Tag: music education

Ahead of the premiere of his RPS/Classic FM commission at ABRSM’s event Shine, Jack Pepper writes how important it is that young people are able to access and explore classical music.

The music world is too often concerned with debates about elitism, snobbery and archaism. The problem is that too often this debate is being conducted by adults.

In the Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music from 1906, Ferruccio Busoni spoke of the “unawakened capacities” of music. Whether it be an undiscovered or underperformed composer like André Mathieu, or a recently discovered piece, classical music is a realm of discovery. What makes it so fascinating is its ability to reveal something new to everyone, be they a seasoned concertgoer or an open-minded newcomer.

I recently had the pleasure of taking a friend to the Royal Ballet to celebrate his eighteenth birthday, the first time he had had the opportunity to visit the Opera House; here was a young man who, despite having never visited Covent Garden, was eager and excited to embrace classical music. Here was someone who was genuinely thrilled at the prospect of live classical music. Here was someone who, admirably open-minded and inquisitive, embraced the chance to enjoy the genre when the opportunity arose. Sitting rows behind a live orchestra, the vitality of classical music was overwhelming. Equally, my ten-year-old piano pupil has been entranced by Holst’s The Planets ever since her primary school teacher introduced her to the composer; her face lights up when we discuss the way Holst generates a terrifying atmosphere in Mars through col legno strings and that insistent ostinato. These examples demonstrate both the “unawakened capacities” of classical music to stir the excitement of more young people, as well as the “unawakened” interests of so many of today’s youth, who simply have not been given the opportunity to embrace the genre. The undeniable fact is that there is a huge market for classical music waiting on Spotify, on YouTube, in schools and on social media; young people are receptive, and classical music must be receptive to them.

Classic FM’s recent RAJAR statistics highlight this exceptional willingness to embrace classical music on the part of young people; 934,000 people below the age of 35 now listen to the station every week, an increase both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. Indeed, over half of the station’s 1.4 million followers on Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram are under 35. It is evident that there is a growing appetite for classical music amongst young people, provided we can find the best ways of getting this music to reach them in the first place. Neither my friend nor my piano pupil would have listened to the music they now so enjoy if they hadn’t have been introduced to it by others. This is where superb schemes like the BBC Ten Pieces programme are vital, for in exposing young people to a broad and representative selection of classical pieces, the genre is immediately made more open and accessible for the adventurous beginner.

BBC Radio 3’s ‘The Listening Service‘ with Tom Service presents a journey of imagination and insight, exploring how music works.

Classical music is too often labelled elitist, archaic and unexciting, yet the Ten Pieces project – along with such fantastic radio programmes as Catherine Bott’s Everything You Ever Wanted to Know…and Tom Service’s The Listening Service – challenge this unfounded stereotype by making the genre open to all, modern and alive. Too many of my contemporaries think classical music ‘finished’ when Beethoven allegedly shook his fist at the Heavens before passing away in 1827, and this image of classical music as a conservative – hence ‘safe’ (which equals unexciting) – art form must be challenged. Yet this might not be as difficult as you think. Young people love exploring, love discoveries, love exciting possibilities. As Alan Davey rightly argued in a recent article for the Guardian: “young people are not afraid of things that need to be worked through.” Mendelssohn composed his Octet aged sixteen.

And how important it is that young people do explore. In embracing classical music, we can better grasp the world around us, as well as the destination we’ve travelled from and seem to be travelling to; music is a fundamental part of world culture, and in the same way studying Harlem Renaissance Jazz teaches us about racial attitudes in 20th century America, so the study of JS Bach’s chorales reveals something about the nature of Lutheran religion in 18th century Germany. In this way, the study of classical music opens up numerous other studies, be it contemporary dance or Romantic poetry. For young people, music can be an instruction in a thousand more disciplines than music alone.

Nor is there reason to avoid this wealth of culture, for it is available at our fingertips; as of March 2017, Spotify had 50 million paying subscribers worldwide, whilst YouTube has over 1 billion users. Classical music is more accessible than ever; indeed, the very notion of musical genres dissolves when, on the same playlist, I can enjoy John Mayer followed by John Dowland. Music is more wide-ranging than ever because it is more wide-reaching, yet classical music must continue to harness such technology to further open itself up for exploration. The “unawakened capacities” of technology can bring out the “unawakened” enthusiasm of countless more people for this exciting genre.

RPS/Classic FM Young Composers: The seven young composers chosen to write a new piece of classical music each to celebrate the station’s 25th birthday.

This opportunity for exploration is exactly what the RPS/ Classic FM commission is doing for young composers today. The commission is a valuable chance for us to develop our own compositional voices, whilst working with professional musicians and exploring the fascinating world of both broadcasting and formal commissions. What could be more exciting for a young composer than an invitation to the RPS Music Awards, attended by such names as Stephen Hough CBE and Dame Felicity Lott? This is proof that classical music is an open and accessible world for young people, and that classical music is for youth as well as for any other age. Yet this commission is also a sensational opportunity to open the genre to an even broader, younger audience; by identifying classical music with young people, the genre suddenly becomes one associated with greater inclusion, excitement and possibility. This desire to introduce more young people to the genre influenced my inclusion of references to some of the best-known classical pieces in my commission; I hope that this will engage listeners to multiple pieces by listening to only one. The RPS is a model of the variety and possibilities offered by classical music, giving valuable chances to young performers and composers; Classic FM is doing the same for young listeners. Now we must make this known; we must reach young people in new and exciting ways, making music embrace them as much as the other way round.

The music world is too often concerned with debates about elitism, snobbery and archaism. The problem is that too often this debate is being conducted by adults. This is a blog written by a 17-year-old, who loves classical music passionately and wants other young people to share the same incredible experiences the genre has given me. There are numerous articles about the importance of classical music, debating whether or not the genre faces a crisis or a new dawn, but all too often this is a debate about youth, conducted only between adults. We need classical music to be visible, accessible and exciting for young people. The best way to do this is to have young people associated with the genre. Some will forever harbour “unawakened capacities” to enjoy classical music, simply because they were never given the chance to embrace it. Let us breathe life into the “unawakened capacities” of classical music to energise today’s young people. It has done so much for me.

Written by Jack Pepper

Jack Pepper was one of seven composers commissioned by the RPS and Classic FM to mark the station’s 25th birthday. His fanfare “Signal” will be premiered at ABRSM’s music education event, ‘Shine‘. on Friday 7 July, 11am at the Barbican

Although people are exposed to music nowadays, are we actually really listening better? Are we communicating better?

In September, the Royal Philharmonic Society published a report by Sarah Derbyshire, Musical Routes, which assesses the provision of musical education for young people and children in England. And it got me thinking of my own early engagement with music.

I was brought up in a farming community. There were no tape recorders, no computers, we didn’t even have a television – but we did have Scottish traditional music, and so a lot of our social entertainment, and what happened in the home, was a shared experience. Although people are exposed to music nowadays, it is often in a much more isolated way and for all the different ways that we can consume music, I do wonder, are we actually really listening better? Are we communicating better?

For me, the whole experience is of creating sound – I’d go so far as to say that musicians are ‘sound creators’, and when we can get our young people to be curious towards sound, and take the first step of linking one sound to another, low and behold they suddenly become musicians.

It is important that musicians engage with youngsters to allow them to experience the real, raw sounds and how the human hand creates them. It is entirely possible to become a musician or composer without actually playing an instrument; for example, you can orchestrate a very loud timpani roll with a very soft violin harmonic on a computer, but if you have a timpanist and a violinist right in front of you, you will, of course, realise that in reality, you will never hear that violin…Read the full article at here

Catherine Arlidge, Sub-Principal Second Violin of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, teacher, animateur and winner of the RPS/ABO Salomon Prize gives an overview of her work in music education.

My fundamental passion is possibly bigger than the definition of ‘education’ – it is to connect new audiences to classical music. And the way in which I make that connection is by performing with the CBSO in the world’s concert halls, by teaching young instrumentalists and also by finding ways to give new audiences their very first experiences of a live, classical performance. These three types of activity are utterly interconnected and each feeds the others.

Like every UK orchestra, the CBSO boasts many small ensembles that regularly visit schools. My group is a string quartet ‘The Stringcredibles’ and we have numerous shows and creative hands-on workshops in schools most weeks, most recently connecting to the BBC 10 Pieces.

We ‘curate’ our concerts in quite an unusual way – with a clear focus on the meaning behind the music. We always use a visual, digital component and often readings and commentaries, to bring value to the performance beyond our technical and musical skill. Many of our performances focus directly on areas of the National Curriculum both for music but also, as music is such an effective learning tool, we use it to focus on many other areas of the curriculum, beyond music.

Possibly our most exciting project to date has been Stringcredibles Apprentices – we recently selected 16 young instrumentalists and trained them to create vibrant, interactive performances for children.

Our mantra in teaching them is:

Pitch – know your audience and what they need from youPace – create a sequence of pieces that captivates the listeners throughoutPerform – practise your stage presence, your physicality and your speaking, as well as your instruments and ensemble skills.

The learning journey these students had been on prior to Apprentices was very much focused on mastering the technical and stylistic skills of playing an instrument. We widened out that learning process by asking them:

“Why are you playing what you are playing? And why should we listen?’

You can have all the technical skill in the world and yet if you communicate nothing it is worthless. We found that by focusing on their ‘musical dialogue’ with the audience, their playing becomes much more characterful, their physicality becomes more engaging, they are less inhibited by the fear of making small mistakes, they allow themselves to enjoy the performances more and this all helps to keep the audience with them.

For me Performing, Teaching and Learning are all an intrinsic part of being a musician, and every one of these three disciplines are interlinked. I know I am a better musician for having a breadth of activity as part of my daily life.

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For over 200 years we’ve been at the heart of music: supporting and working creatively with talented young performers and composers, championing excellence, and encouraging audiences to listen to, and talk about, great music.